INFLATION is actually a tool utilised by the rich and powerful to enslave poor / ignorant people and

What's stopping you?

 

1) It's important to keep in mind that that urban housing cost increase is a gain for many people. It opens opportunities for working and middle class people to invest in cheaper properties, and realise passive income to supplement low wages. And that's before capital growth is factored in. In that sense it can't be viewed as a negative.

2) Housing remains just as affordable as it always has, if we adapt to the new parameters rather than expect access to be in the same form it was in 30+ years ago. IOW, holding on to the idea that we should be able to buy were we prefer (just because we could do that for a brief period during the 20thC) is a big part of the problem.

 

House prices are quite stagnant outside of urban areas. In some parts of America they're declining. That's true in my country also.

 

You put WANT and NEED in the same sentence. Which is it?

 

That's true, but isn't it also true the housing prices are high around where all the good job opportunities are?

I mean, if you want to live a middle class standard of life, it's hard to do so in an area where housing prices are not high. (unless you are a highly educated professional)

 

I thought it was a way to not have to raise taxes all the time. And still keep raising spending.

 

People don't save money to put it under the mattress. They save it to INVEST - even if that investment is just the family home. Obviously, people will invest in growth areas, to keep ahead of inflation.

 

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He's not wrong there. You are not looking at the wider context of what our conversation was about.

 

Well, there's some truth to that.

But I still think just raising the taxes is better than getting it from inflation.

 

You're wasting your time. He doesn't want to see the working classes empowered by financial security. He wants an underclass of spenders, life-renting and beholden to the Man.

 

Sometimes I wonder if these Progressives run their personal financial lives the same way they advocate, on this forum, running government policy.

If so, maybe that explains why they have nothing and claim it's impossible for the lower classes to get ahead.

"Just spend more, it doesn't matter"

 

Sure, but that's always been true. There was a brief moment of unreality in the 20thC, when working class folk could buy property in big cities .. but that will likely never happen again. It's also deeply foolish to cling to that as a benchmark - the only real benchmark is the crappiest house in the crappiest town.

You can WANT to live anywhere and any way you like, but what you want and what you can afford are rarely the same thing.

 

I wonder what the new reality will look like when Progressives realize only the elite among them can afford to live in those big cities which they thrive in, and which are their lifeblood.

What will Progressivism look like when they can no longer live in the big cities?

Right now we have seen a phenomena of big city dwelling progressives rushing out to live in smaller big cities in more conservative regions, but the space in those cities are running out.

Will it get to the point that they are so desperate to live in city areas they will start moving to abandoned city areas in the worst economically hit areas of the Rust Belt?

 

Bingo. Much of it is driven by the bitterness of thwarted entitlement (I'm too special to live in a lowbrown town or far flung suburb, so I 'have' to rent, and that's just not fair. Someone should buy me a house in this expensive city - because I'm special).

It's a privilege and entitlement mindset.

 

Ironically the immigration they love is what is pushing them out of their beloved cities.
But it's a waste of time trying to explain that to them.

 

Someone should tell that to the republicans.

 

I didn't know that. Splains a lot!!

 

They're almost at that juncture now. I can see it happening in a city near me - the hipsters who once shared run down row houses are being priced out by recent renovations of those properties for massive capital gains. They keep having to move further and further out of the city (inner cities are expensive here) to afford the rents. But the dummies still won't buy - because buying means a) self-sacrifice, and b) accepting that you can't actually afford expensive inner city areas.

Renting is a kind of delusion. You THINK you can afford where you live, but you really can't.

 

Yes, mortgage equity is traditionally one of the main things the Federal Reserve buys to put in their "Reserve Assets" on their Balance Sheet when they choose to "expand the money supply".

In a very indirect way, the dollar is sort of "backed" by something: the Reserve Assets held on the Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet. (since theoretically they could sell off all those assets to be able to take all the dollars out of circulation)

Theoretically the "assets" (stuff they own or are holding) is supposed to exactly equal their "liabilities" (all the outstanding dollars, or actual real paper money in circulation).

 

By 'invest in cheaper properties' are you talking about people buying properties to rent?

I'm not just talking about urban housing, I'm talking about average/all housing.

 

I know it's mean and I shouldn't hope for this, but there's a small part of me that wants them to suffer.

It's like nothing else can get through to them.

Sometimes when people are just being so stupid and you try patiently explaining to them but they just refuse to listen, you just get frustrated and think they deserve the fruits of their own stupidity.

 

It can't be real suffering, so not mean at all.

After all, they have access to the same information you and I do, but still choose to do what they do. They're evidently comfortable with the inevitable consequences.

 

Yes. Or owner-occupy and add value for capital gain. It's one of the easiest ways for the working classes to get ahead, if not THE easiest.

But all housing isn't equally impacted. Some areas are stagnant or in decline, price wise.

 

Bingo. There is only one play in their playbook: sacrifice everyone and everything on the altar of landowner greed, privilege and parasitism.